Padel points explained: 15-30-40, golden point and star point (2026)

Padel uses the same basic scoring as tennis, but with a couple of important twists, among them golden point and the brand-new star point rule. Here's everything explained simply.

The basics: points, games and sets

Within a game, the points are counted 15, 30, 40, game:

• No points yet: "love"
• First point: 15
• Second: 30
• Third: 40
• Win the ball at 40 (and your opponent has less), and you win the game.

A set is won by whoever reaches six games first with at least a two-game lead. At 5–5 you keep going and the set is won 7–5. If it's 6–6, a tiebreak is played. A match is usually decided as best of three sets.

One difference from tennis catches every newcomer: the serve is underarm. You bounce the ball behind the service line and hit it at or below waist height, with at least one foot on the ground. You still get two serves.

What are the three official scoring options?

Most explanations skip this, and it is the thing an organiser actually needs. The FIP rulebook does not define one single way to score a game. It lists three options, and a tournament picks one before the first serve:

• Option 1, advantage: the traditional method.
• Option 2, star point: new for 2026.
• Option 3, golden point: one decisive ball at 40–40.

So the honest answer to "how is a padel game scored" is: it depends which of the three the organiser chose. That is exactly why it belongs in the invite rather than in a discussion on court.

Deuce: golden point vs. traditional advantage

At 40–40 (deuce), there are two ways to decide the game:

• Golden point (punto de oro): one decisive ball. The winner of that single ball takes the game, no advantage. This is standard in Premier Padel and most tournaments, because it keeps the pace up and puts real pressure on the serve.
• Traditional advantage: as in tennis, you have to win two balls in a row from deuce, first "advantage", then the game. Lose the advantage and it's back to deuce. In theory it can last a long time, which is the whole problem when the court is booked for 90 minutes.

Star point: the new 2026 rule

For 2026, FIP (the international padel federation) introduced a middle ground called star point. It keeps some of the tension of advantage, but sets a hard limit. The rulebook counts the deuces out loud:

• Deuce 1: the next ball won is called "advantage 1". Win the ball after it and you take the game. Lose it and you are back to deuce 2.
• Deuce 2: the next ball won is "advantage 2". Same again. Lose it and you go to deuce 3.
• Deuce 3: one decisive ball, the star point. Whoever wins it wins the game.

In other words: up to two advantages, and if no one closes it out, a single ball decides. It gives more drama than golden point without a game lasting forever. A game now has a known maximum length, which is what makes a schedule hold. FIP is rolling star point out through the 2026 season across Premier Padel and the CUPRA FIP Tour, so you will meet both systems for a while yet.

Who chooses the side on a decisive ball?

This one catches out club players every week, and it works the same for golden point and star point:

• The receiving pair chooses whether to take the serve on the right or the left side.
• They cannot change positions to do it. You choose a side, not a swap. Whoever is already standing there takes the ball.
• In mixed matches, the receiver on the deciding point must be the same sex as the server. Man serves, man receives.

Read that last one out before a mixed night starts. It quietly decides who gets the biggest ball of the game, and it is the rule people argue about most.

Tiebreak and super-tiebreak

• Tiebreak (at 6–6 in a set): first to 7 points with a two-point lead. Here you count 1, 2, 3 … instead of 15-30-40. A set won on a tiebreak is written 7–6.
• Super-tiebreak: first to 10 points (two-point lead). Often used instead of a full third set in club and amateur tournaments to save time.

The serving order in a tiebreak trips up almost everyone:

• Whoever was next to serve serves one ball, from the right.
• The other pair then serves two, starting from the left.
• After that everyone serves two balls at a time, keeping the order from the set.
• You change ends every 6 points.
• The next set is started by the player of the pair who did not serve first in the tiebreak.

When do you change ends?

In a normal set you change ends after the 1st, 3rd and every subsequent odd game, so after games 1, 3, 5 and so on. In a tiebreak it is every 6 points. If you forget, correct it as soon as someone notices: every point played before the mistake still counts.

Short formats: the pro set and the mini set

For club tournaments with limited court time, the pro set is popular: one long set to eight games (with a tiebreak at 8–8) instead of best of three. Fast, but still real game scoring.

FIP also allows a mini set to four games (tiebreak at 4–4), a plain tiebreak to 7 in place of a deciding third set, and the super-tiebreak to 10. These are all legal ways to score a real match, so you never have to invent your own format.

Which should you use?

• Social night: skip games and sets. Play Americano to a fixed number of points (see the format guide).
• Tournament, little time: a pro set or super-tiebreak with golden point.
• Tournament, done properly: best of three sets with golden point or star point.

Whatever you land on, write it in the invite. "Best of three, star point" is four words and settles every deuce argument before it starts.

What if two players finish on the same score?

A scoring guide has to answer the last question of the night: who actually won? Decide the tiebreaker before you start, not while people are standing around waiting for a prize.

In PadelLoop it is already decided, and the two tables do it differently because they measure different things.

• In Americano and Mexicano, where you play for points rather than games, the table sorts on points, then point difference, then number of wins, then name alphabetically.
• In the round robin with fixed pairs, a win is worth 2 points and a draw 1 point each (a draw happens more often than you'd think when matches are capped by the clock). Teams level on points are separated by difference, then total scored, then name.

Both rules are worth copying even if you run the night on paper. They are unambiguous and never need a judgement call from the organiser.

How PadelLoop fits in

PadelLoop does not umpire your match. It does not count 15-30-40 or follow the star point ball by ball. You keep score on court the usual way and enter the finished result as one number per team.

What it does run is a round robin with fixed pairs. When you set it up you pick a match format from a list: best of three with golden point, star point (FIP 2026) or traditional advantage, best of three with a super tie-break in the third set, one set, a pro set to 8 games, or super tie-break only. The name you picked is shown above the courts while you play, so nobody has to remember what was agreed, and the score box is labelled Result in sets or Result in games to match it. PadelLoop keeps the live table from there.

For the social formats, see Americano, Mexicano and Mixicano. For the practical side of the night, courts, seeding and the schedule, see how to run a padel tournament.